Directed by:
Alan ParkerScreenplay:
Charles RandolphCinematography:
Michael SeresinComposer:
Alex ParkerCast:
Kevin Spacey, Kate Winslet, Laura Linney, Gabriel Mann, Rhona Mitra, Leon Rippy, Matt Craven, Jim Beaver, Melissa McCarthy, Julio Cedillo, Alan Parker (more)VOD (4)
Plots(1)
Alan Parker's look at capital punishment in the US. David Gale was a successful lecturer and head of the Philosophy department at Austin University, as well as an activist for the anti-capital punishment movement, Deathwatch. However, he loses everything when he is falsely accused of rape by one of his students, despite being exonerated. Several years later he finds himself on Death Row after being found guilty of the rape and murder of one of his best friends and fellow activist, Constance Harraway (Laura Linney). With only days before his execution, he agrees to an interview with journalist Bitsey Bloom (Kate Winslet), who, during the interview, decides the facts just don't seem to make any sense. Receiving an anonymous tip-off sets her further on the road to solving the mystery before Gale's death by execution and it becomes a race against time. (Universal Pictures UK)
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Reviews (9)
A gala performance from the trio Kevin Spacey-Kate Winslet-Laura Linney and a story with a strong message. However, the sometimes confusing directing and the pace of the storytelling occasionally detract from its overall rating, with plot twists coming one after another at times, while at others the entire drama just stays lazily in one place. It doesn't bother me, but it unnecessarily disrupts the impression of coherence.
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Something is rotten in the state of Texas. Although, in the end, this doesn’t really apply... Alan Parker chose a fascinating theme and excellent actors. And he turned them into an above-average picture where political activism is not a dirty word. Parker trips up a little over the over-transparent screenplay. When a filmmaker reveals his hand already at the half-way point of a movie, then there isn’t much point in developing on this revelation for the entire final half-hour. This isn’t a shortcoming that wrecks the movie, but it does make it difficult to sympathize fully with the characters and so the emotional experience is affected. But since this is such an above-average picture, despite the above this is certainly no time-waster. In fact, it is quite the opposite.
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This could have been such a great movie, but for me, the script is bad. The actors try their best, although Kate just bothered me here, but the script tries to be so clever that it's overly convoluted to the point where it's predictable, and more than a surprising twist, what you hear is the political agitation. This could have been very clever, but it's not.
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Good film, but I have several problems with it. I didn’t mind much the strong political stance regarding the death penalty, because, even if I’m more on the side of the fence the film is against, this is a topic where I can understand and accept the arguments on both sides. What bothered me a lot is that the script gives the savvy viewer an unnecessary chance to ruin the surprise. I figured out the twist (and I don’t mean any other twist, but the main “schock” in the last scene) about twenty minutes in. I know it exactly, because I looked at the clock so, in case I would be right, I could boast about how savvy I am :-D. The script is so loose, for instance, I didn’t find very convincing the relationship between the two journalists. And the last quibble is personal: Kevin Spacey is one of my favourite actors, but as the philosophy professor David Gale, I realised how similar he is to one university professor that taught us philosophy in secondary school, and from that moment on, his performance felt weird…
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For the whole two hours this film was reminding me of the perfect thriller Seven. Most of all due to the atmosphere and the locations, where it was raining almost all the time. But also due to the story, which certainly belongs among the interesting American thrillers, which shock with its storyline, but most of all with the finale. Truth be told, there are not many films like that and that is the reason why I appreciate this film so much. Also, Kevin Spacey was amazing and was perfectly complemented by Kate Winslet. And the last 35 minutes were really suspenseful, and I was on pins and needles the whole time. If not for the boring bits in the first half, I would have rated it with five stars. At the same time, I think that Seven fans should not miss this flick. It was pretty close to Seven at least with the atmosphere, and until recently, I had no idea it existed.
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